Nearby Theaters

Originally the Palama Theatre was located at 569 N. King Street. It opened in 1919 and closed in 1929. It was an open-air theatre operated by Charles Yee Foy.

Consolidated Amusement Co. built a new theatre nearby at 701 N. King Street in 1929. It opened as the New Palama Theatre on 19th April 1930. It was designed in a Chinese style by architect Louis Davis at a cost of $140,000 and seating was provided for 1,500.

The theatre was leased by Consolidated Amusement to operators from the Phillipines from 1970-74 who renamed it the Zamboanga (after a city and province in the Phillipines) and they showed Filipino films.

After that it was converted to commercial space and leased for many by a printing company. The front arcade with retail space was enclosed by metal roll-up doors and a new large warehouse entrance was made on the side of the building. Inside, the balcony was removed and the floor rake eliminated (although the proscenium/stage area remained and was used for storage, as was the original lobby).

After they left, it was subdivided into two spaces and a church is now in the front half and the back half is commercial space. There is still a very small amount of decorative plaster left inside. The exterior plaster detailing is relatively intact but slowly disintegrating due to the weather and lack of maintenance…and the fact that the building is now 80 years old.